Master Soumy (Ismaila Doucoure) has long been a political and musical force within Mali. For many years, he has pushed for change in the country, advocating for the youth. Topics like migration, infrastructure, and religious freedom are commonplace in his videos, and despite the past decade of political instability, his position as a socially conscious rapper has remained solid. This was most evident in 2016, where he and his fellow musicians from Mali gathered to put on a festival to combat the censorship of music under Sharia law. Master Soumy’s storied career is one that still carries on today.
The artistic direction of his videos often relies on images and lines that sharply illustrate the message of his song. In 2022’s “LA MAIN DE DIEU” (The Hand of God), he is initially seated on a throne with both a cross and a mosque on the back of it, showing the complexities of religious life in Mali. The song critiques the divisions that poor governance has spawned, and how religion is used as a way to stop meaningful change from happening. Crushingly slow bureaucracy makes effective policy implementation difficult, and he says that just because one cites the bible, and invokes religion, it does not mean that the secular state will be any more effective. He goes on to rap that democracy has failed because of this and that politicians are clinging to the minarets just to stay relevant. During the final part of the song, he remarks that “religion est devenue source inépuisable les pouvoirs (religion has become an inexhaustible source of powers)” This sharp decrying of the state illustrates how religiosity can be used as a scapegoat for the actual problems that governance can face, and how development can be put aside when leaders are focused on using religion to divide, rather than directly facing a country’s problems. Overall, Master Soumy’s piercing verses illustrate why he has such an important position within the political rap of Mali, and his continuing discography of charged Hip-Hop shows no signs of stopping.
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